PACEY
PAXTON — A McLean County judge has been assigned to preside over a lawsuit filed in Ford County Circuit Court alleging that a Paxton Buckley-Loda school district teacher and former coach inappropriately touched numerous female students, whose claims of abuse were repeatedly ignored by administrators.
The 11th Judicial Circuit’s chief judge, J. Casey Costigan, entered a reassignment order on Monday, June 16, in the civil case of “Jane Doe A vs. Robert Pacey.” Costigan assigned it to Judge Rebecca Foley and instructed attorneys to contact Foley’s office for “scheduling.” No reason for the reassignment was mentioned.
The 14-count civil complaint was filed by Chicago civil rights attorney Bhavani Raveendran on June 6 on behalf of three anonymous plaintiffs — one a former student, one a parent of a former student and one a parent of a current student — and against Pacey, a Clara Peterson Elementary School teacher and former coach, and four other defendants: the PBL school district, former Superintendent Cliff McClure, Superintendent Travis Duley and PBL Junior High School Principal Josh Didier.
Of the five defendants, only Pacey’s name was listed as a “respondent” in the reassignment order. The only “petitioner” listed was “Jane Doe A” — one of the three plaintiffs, the others being “Jane Doe B” and “Jane Doe C.” Raveendran filed a motion on June 9 seeking the continued use of fictitious names, according to court records.
The lawsuit, which seeks more than $50,000 in damages for each of the 14 counts, alleges that administrators received multiple reports of alleged inappropriate behavior by Pacey, including grooming and inappropriate touching of students, starting not long after he was hired in 2008 as a junior high school social studies teacher and assistant junior high cross country coach. However, administrators repeatedly dismissed the complaints over the course of more than a decade, ignoring the school district’s own policies by never notifying the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services as required, the lawsuit claimed.
Not until this past January — when one of the alleged victims revealed her experiences with Pacey to a therapist, who subsequently contacted DCFS — was the agency ever notified, the suit alleged. And even after the district was informed of an ensuing law enforcement investigation, administrators failed to immediately discipline Pacey, who was not suspended until months later, the suit alleged.
As of this week, Pacey had not been criminally charged or arrested and remained employed at PBL on paid administrative leave. Pacey — a STEM and technology teacher at Clara Peterson Elementary School and former head PBL Junior High School cross-country and girls’ track coach — has denied any wrongdoing. A lifelong Paxton resident, Pacey continues to serve as a Ward 3 alderman on the Paxton City Council and as a Ford County Republican precinct committeeman, plus as a member of numerous local civic organizations.
Meanwhile, Duley — who has been superintendent since July 1, 2023, when he replaced the retired McClure — has resigned, effective June 30.